A Memoir: Mighty Be Our Powers: How Sisterhood, prayer and sex changed a nation at war
By Leymah Gbowee (with Carol Mithers)
(Beast Books, R294.95)
I first became aware of this dynamic woman when she did an interview with Bloomberg TV’s phenomenal talk show host Charlie Rose (channel 411, between 9pm and 10pm). She completely bowled him over, this Liberian peace and women’s rights activist, who has done so much not only to change the course of her and her family’s lives, but also those of the Liberian nation.
Rose asked her if she would like to become president of her country. “Why not?” she said nonchalantly.
“I think I can do better than the men who have been around and at least my focus is on the people rather than on power.”
It is that shift of focus that Leymah Gbowee’s story so sharply explores, giving a changed African landscape as the women turn towards their families and friends rather than personal achievement.
She talks about war and the devastation, especially amongst the women and the children. But when anything is said or planned post-war, these victims seem to disappear into the background and are paid no attention.
It’s women such as Gbowee and Liberia’s President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf who are going to make the difference on the African continent. They’re also the forerunners of a worldwide trend to bring more diversity into the power structures.
So much is collapsing because of a determination to hold on, which was exactly what Charles Taylor did in a country where he sowed total destruction, to the point where a young woman’s dreams were shattered overnight, changing the course of her life drastically and dramatically.
Fortunately, even with an abusive husband and six children to feed, Gbowee is not someone who lets go easily. Once her childhood was snatched away and a different world stared her in the face, she was driven to fight for the future of her children.
One of the most fascinating parts of the book is her battle for the soul of Liberia. Now the executive director of Women Peace and Security Network – Africa, and previously part of other women’s peace organisations, she was determined that women would be involved in every aspect of the peace process of her country.
She fought to explain the bureaucratic language of the peace accords to ordinary women and to encourage children, especially former fighters, to return to school.
She was looking at the ordinary lives of her countrymen and |women and trying to build a base of normality.
“But when it came to the official peace keepers like those with the UN mission in Liberia, we might as well have been talking to the air,” she says.
She goes on at length with great insight about the reason to involve local people in the decisions made along the way. If you’re going to distribute food, the local people will be able to tell you when there are fighters in the neighbourhood who will prevent this happening, for instance.
Instead of patting themselves on the back for the aid that has been passed on and not knowing whether the right people were helped, orga-nisations can rest assured they have made a difference when they do things the right way.
“You cannot go to another country and make a plan for it,” she notes. The cultural context is so different from what you know that you will not understand much of what you see.
These are the kinds of things that she and her organisations concentrated on. To get things done – but really get them done to benefit the people it was supposed to help.
“People who have lived through a terrible conflict may be hungry and desperate, but they’re not stupid,” she writes.
“They often have very good ideas about how peace can evolve and they need to be asked. That includes the women. Most especially the women.”
She argues that women know their communities best.
“When the lights are out, we can walk through rooms without bumping into anything,” she succinctly makes her point.
She was a prominent part of the women who protested for peace in Liberia and brought Taylor to his knees. But she was also part of the organisation invited to observe the peace talks in Ghana between the rebels and Taylor. The chapter is titled When Peace Talks Are Just Talk, Take Action and is a warning of what’s to follow. Again Bhowee doesn’t disappoint.
“We are their conscience,” she tells a reporter during the talks. But she also witnessed how the rebels enjoyed their stay far away from their horrific battles of war and with pressure, very particular to African women and their situation, she forced their hand.
Do it now, get it over with or else, was the stand these women took at great risk. But because of their determination and their quest for better lives for their families and people, they couldn’t be ignored.
It is women such as Gbowee who have shifted the focus to a more positive view of the continent. She believes it is the time of women. Read the book and know that what Gbowee believes, she usually wills into being. It is a remarkable story of a woman who didn’t only fight for herself, but for her nation.